ENO chief follows up boos with apology

Anyone leaving a job after eight years might expect a bouquet, a bottle of bubbly and some kind words. But when the music director of the English National Orchestra put down his baton he got a broadside of boos.

Paul Daniel received a rousing ovation from the audience at the London Coliseum after a farewell performance of Alban Berg's opera Lulu. But that could not mask the boos coming from a private box occupied by the ENO's director of marketing, Ian McKay.

Mr McKay's booing was so loud and sustained it prompted complaints from members of the public and calls from within the company for his dismissal.

Yesterday Mr McKay made a public apology in which he said he had jeered Daniel after the May 13 performance because of comments the 46-year-old conductor made in a Guardian interview "which I believed damaged the company's reputation". Mr McKay added: "I now realise that my actions were inappropriate and I express my regret to the audience that night if I distracted them from their enjoyment of the performance."

In the Guardian on April 22, Daniel questioned whether the ENO's chairman, investment banker Martin Smith, was the right man for the job. "... The company's not with him," Daniel said. "And I fear the public's perception of the company is slightly tainted by him."

He also expressed concerns about ENO artistic director Seán Doran's plans, which some believe move the company away from its core values.